Recent food/water aggression

[Mike]

My 6 1/2 mo male has just recently started showing aggression (growling) with his food and water. i have a 7yo female boxer that seems to be the victim.  she is very laid back and never in a hurry to eat. she typically waits for him to eat.  my young daughter typically feeds the dogs just to help her maintain a status above him and have not had any issues in that regard. she will hand feed him from his bowl before releasing him to eat, but he has began to growl at my female boxer if she tries to approach his food or water bowl. if he sees her or one of my cats go into the kitchen he will run in there to make sure nobody is messing with his bowls. i need some help with what to try as i do not want this to escalate at all. thanks

[Marco]

Thanks for posting Mike, I hope you will find help here for the problem you are having.  Food aggression can be dangerous not only to your pets but anyone else in the house so its good your looking to get it under control.  There can be a few different reason for this but its normally instinct driven.  Dogs are a pack animals as you probably already know based on the mention of your daughter feeding.  It sounds like your male is trying to take charge, and control the food, and water.  You may try to seprate them for a bit by a gate, crate, or different rooms.  Its best to stay on a good feeding schedule, and don't leave food out in bowls.  By sticking to a good schedule they will be ready to eat.  Its good to pick the food up after about 5 minutes or so.  They need to know you are the one who is in complete control over the food.  If they dont eat all their food at first when you pick it up, well they will be sure to take advantage of it next time.  By doing this they will be more concerned about eating when its time to, than on one another.  Your again showing you control the food, and not them.   Continue to make sure you make them earn their food, and be sure to praise good behavious.  In the end what might work best is just to seperate them while they are eating.  Some dogs can be very dominant, and its not worth taking the risk of them hurting each other or your family.  If you have not already I recommend reading the article below on dealing with dominant dogs.  Thanks again for posting, I hope you find what works for you, and your family.

 

Dealing with the Dominant Dog

[Mike]

Marco, thank you for the link. I will be spending a lot of time on there reading. Very good information.

[Lee May]

Hey Mike BB are very smart on average they are as smart as a 3 yr. old child. first thing to look at is your over all discipline and structure. Just like kids dogs need rules to follow, with a praise for good behavior and a penalty/ correction for bad behavior. Avoidance does not change behavior. I would go back to basics, leash up pup make him watch in a sit then down while your other dog eats in peace before he is allowed to eat. Also slowly start to stop him from eating with a sit stay to allow you to take his bowl off the floor. move slowly to putting your hand in his bowl reward with praise when he has done it correctly. Good luck and catch it now before he gets bigger and stronger. Stay calm and lead. Peace Lee

[Mike]

Thanks Lee, he does very well with letting us approach him. If any of the people in our family he approach he actually will stop eating and step back and sit. He then will wait for you to walk off before resuming. I start messing with them while eating from day one with all my dogs. Its just my other dog that has been getting growled at. I moved the bowls apart about another 5 feet and have not had any issues since but am still monitoring closely.

[Lee May]

Good Job. just wanted to check, growling requires correction by you the pack leader, or it will get worse. I would add corrections with your verbal commands to make him respect your first dog, she should be above him in pack order and he must know that. even kids must be able to give firm commands so he knows.

[Mike]

Thank you. Yes she is the last one to work with. he listens to my 6 yo daughter and she is the one that feeds him and he minds er very well. we had some problems early on with him and her until we had her start feeding him and working with him also and that has resolved it completely. He even seems to listen to my 2 yo. sons jumbled up jibber jabber and get the point. My son is very strong willed and not affraid of the dogs at all. He holds his own lol. my pup has come a long way in the past week or two with just a few minor changes on our part, so we are very pleased. Thanks for all the suggestions and help! im always up to learning somehting that might help.

[Carrie Kruczek]

Hi Mike:

If your boy is resource guarding at 6 months it would be best that you start feeding him in a crate.  Safest for you, your kids and your other dog.  My male is just over 3 yrs now, and big and strong at nearly 160 lbs.  We have struggled with resource guarding and aggression issues with him and I have had plenty of experience with dominant/aggressive rotties and dobes before him... but he has been far more difficult.  His resource guarding began with warning off the other dogs, and eventually at adolescence he began food guarding with us. I raised him the same way I had my other dogs:  hand in the food bowl, removing the food bowl, removing bones, so that he understood that they were mine, not his.  He could be chewing a rawhide and when I ordered him to drop it he did so immediately.  That didn't stop the resource guarding from rearing its ugly head!  Different dogs have different inborn drives, and very often dogs with high territorial defense will also resource guard.  It is instinct driven.  Resource guarding also escalates.  The best way to deal with it is to prevent it.  You have several things to consider:  first, if your boxer and bb ever mix it up over food, you do not want your little ones anywhere in the vicinity!  Especially since their precious faces are right at the level of the fight.  I was badly bitten breaking up a fight between two of my dobes.  They let go when they realized they had hold of me rather than each other but the damage was done.  The next issue is that fact that as your boy matures, do not count on him allowing the children to hold their own.  At adolescence, my boy challenged my nineteen year old daughter.  The safest thing for all of you is do what we do,  my dog knows the drill:  when he sees the bowl of kibble, he runs to his crate and gets inside.  I put the bowl down and lock the door.  When he's done and the bowl is clean he comes out.  We never leave food out, and when the dogs get high value treats they are locked in different rooms.  Once in a while, he'll warn one of the other dogs off the water bowl that is always out, but it's just a half-hearted growl.  A warning too about punishing the growl.  That is his warning. (If you are very good at reading dog body language then you'll see the warning before the growl)  If you punish him for growling, then you might get him to stop....but it won't change the way he is thinking!  However, he won't growl, he'll just go straight to the bite.  You have small children, with a dog of this size and power you want the warning!  Right now your bb is a baby.  As he matures he will not be so easy-going. 

[Mike]

Carrie, Thank you for the input. I NEVER let my daughter feed without me being right there to supervise. He is very good about down/stay while she gets his food and is very easy when taking food from her hand. He waits for her to release him to eat. Then she is to stay away while he is eating. Since moving the food bowls apart from each other he has not guarded in any manner since then but we are still watching very close as to correct at the first sign. I watch his posture for raising of the hair, increased speed in eating, arching of the back, and a few other signs that show before the growl. He has never gone as far as to snap at anything so i think were catching this early enough and seem to be making positive progress. I too grew up around dobermans so am familiar with alot of the signs. Thank you so much for replying and i will keep updating on his progress. So far everything that has been mentioned and tried has made a difference.

[Lisa Tiro]

Lee, I have a question about pack order. Should the humans decide the pack order of the dogs? I thought that the dogs are supposed to work that out on their own and eat in that order. I was told that if you mess with that it causes animosity between them and can cause a fight. Just curiuos about what you are thinking in regard to that.

~Lisa

[Lee May]

Very good question Lisa.This is the problem most people make. Top dog eats first Yes. But you being top dog True pack leader you decides who eats first. You should always make all your dogs sit and wait before being released with their food in their bowls on the ground. By allowing your older dog to eat first reinforces to your other dogs to respect their space. With very dominate dogs who like to gobble and then move to other dogs bowl with push or growl will become a problem if not reinforced by you the leader. Food aggressive dogs I train still feed them together with other dogs but don't even allow them to sniff or lick empty bowl of other dogs once they are done. Even when the gobble down their food the must sit and stay at their bowl till all others are done. This keeps respect and order in your house. If you allow more aggressive dog to run the show take food etc. problems will continue and spread to other areas. Peace Lee

[Jennifer]

That is also how it works in my house as well. The only difference that I have is when one of my six dogs is finished they are to leave the kitchen and not step a single foot back in until the command is given to return, which is only after that last dog has finished eating and I have picked up the last of the dog bowels.  This has helped to teach (especially the rescue dogs) that their is no need to gorge themselves that they can take their time and eat properly.

[Lisa Tiro]

Ok, yes. That I agree with wholeheartedly. I do that with my 15 year old Pit bull. I never let him go near her when I feed her and she does eat first because she eats at 3:00-4:00 every day whereas Axel eats a.m. and p.m. so he eats again around 5:00. He is not food aggressive at all. I have hand fed him (working for it) when he first came here and he won't eat until I say take it when I feed him from the bowl. I have always stuck my hands in there adding stuff to get him used to that. I have to say too that he watches the cats eat very close to them but will never eat their food even when they leave. But it is quite obvious who is the leader among them just due to his size and strength. When I had Bella we did the same rituals with the food and eating order but she would push Brandi around when it came to the dog beds. And Brandi would get up and leave and not challenge her. It broke my heart watching my elderly dog get pushed around like that and sometimes I intervened but then I came to accept it afraid I would cause a problem if I wasn't at home. What do you feel about that? Did I do the right thing?